False Allegation of Parental Alienation Keeps Orthodox Jewish Woman Away From Children for More Than a Year

“You need to do a research program on Charlie Manson and the cult that he has,” Gorcyca said later in the hearing. “You have bought yourself living in Children's Village, going to the bathroom in...

(Alyssa Llewellyn-Karsagi from her Facebook page)

Alyssa Llewellyn-Karsagi is an Orthodox Jew who lost her two children during her divorce to her  husband who converted from Judaism shortly before the divorce got going.

Though this should have been seen for its cynical attempt by the court, instead, her ex-husband, Ephraim “Effi” Karsagi, was treated like one of the boys in their Texas courtroom.

Alyssa was accused of something called “parental alienation”, an obscure concept where one parent purportedly turns the children against the other parent during the divorce, and there is a history of parental alienation being misapplied against females in the Orthodox Jewish community.

Parental Alienation and Orthodox Jewish Women

This case is quite similar to the case of Julie Goffstein, which was featured in The Daily Caller and AMI Magazine.

In both cases, they were Orthodox Jewish women whose ex-husbands left the religion just before the divorce and then accused the women of parental alienation, in courtrooms where bigotry was alleged.

As another similarity, Alyssa’s ex-husband’s attorney suggested she would take her children to Israel to keep them away from her ex-husband.

“The associate judge heard this testimony and further heard testimony from Relator of her desire to relocate the children to Israel or out of state, specifically requesting the court maintain the confidentiality of a new address and phone number,” an appeal filed by her ex-husband stated.

In much the same manner, Julie was accused of plotting to hide her children in the Orthodox Jewish community in which she lived in New York City.

“Father testified to his concern that once the children were in Brooklyn, New York with Mother in the insular community that they would never come back,” one court order stated in Julie’s case.

In another case from 2013, Kelly Myzner, from Rockland County New York, still lost custody of her children despite allegations of sexual abuse, because she was accused of parental alienation; this time, the judge, Sherri Eisenpress, also held it against Myzner that she had left the Hasidic faith and become secular.

Probably most notoriously, Maya Tsimhoni’s then three children were ordered to juvenile hall after they refused to have lunch with their father.

The judge, Lisa Gorcyca, accused Maya of parental alienation, in a hearing in June 2015.

“I do apologize if I didn't understand the rules,” said one boy, who turned 14 in custody, to the judge, “but I do not apologize for not talking to (the father) because I have a reason for that and that's because he's violent and I saw him hit my mom and I'm not going to talk to him.”

The judge was having none of it and even compared the children to Charles Manson.

“You need to do a research program on Charlie Manson and the cult that he has,” Gorcyca said later in the hearing. “You have bought yourself living in Children's Village, going to the bathroom in public, and maybe summer school.”

Maya Tsimhoni was also Orthodox Jewish.

Alyssa’s Journey into Judaism

Alyssa told me she grew up in Crosby, Texas, a town approximately twenty-five miles northeast of Houston.

She was born into a Southern Baptist household, but it was also abusive.

“My birth mother was really abusive to me, physically, emotionally, and verbally,” she told me. “I have no contact whatsoever with her.”

To top it off, her mother testified on her ex-husband’s behalf during their divorce.

Her journey to Judaism first started while she attended Houston Baptist University, when she took a World Religion class.

“I tried to study any religion I could find,” she said. “Judaism was the only which made sense.”

When I asked her to expand, she said, “It didn’t wish bad on anyone…Judaism accepted other religions. There were many paths to Hashem, and he would reveal himself to many faiths.”

She converted first to Judaism in college in 2005, but at the time, she converted to conservative.

After graduation, she moved to Israel, settling in Jerusalem, and going to graduate school.

“I was going to learn more about Judaism and see where life takes me.” She told me.

“In Israel there’s a synagogue on every corner; I went to different ones.” She said.

“II think that being in the land brings you closer to Hashem,” she said, “But there was still something that was missing.”

So, approximately three and a half years after moving to Israel, Alyssa began taking classes at a local Orthodox Yeshiva.

“It really wasn’t that much,” Alyssa said of the class load.

She said one reason that her conversion classes in Israel were not terribly demanding is because she showed that she was already committed to a religious lifestyle.

Alyssa’s Autism

About a year after moving to Israel, she met her future husband, Ephraim or Effy.

She remembers that on their first date she shared her secret.

“I told him ‘I need to tell you something and you may not want to see me again.’”

Alyssa has autism.

I knew it before we spoke because she had been featured in a news story done by a local Texas journalist named Wayne Dolcefino where he noted it.

One of the very first shots was of Alyssa spinning what she calls a fidget spinner.

She told me the cameras, microphones, and questions make her far more filled with anxiety, due to her autism, than would someone not dealing with the affliction.

Autism refers to “a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication,” according to the website Autism Speaks.

“What most people register as loud, people on the spectrum register as pain,” she said.

The spectrum refers to how much autism affects each person.

“It is very difficult to read non-verbal cues,” she added but continuing, “I’ve learned to manage it,” That said, had I not known she was autistic, I wouldn’t be able to tell.

I think she is right; had I not known; I would not have been able to tell.

She has finished college, graduate school, lived in two countries, and had two children, despite whatever deficiencies autism brings.

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Find Part two here. (Part two is behind a paywall)